In my ongoing research into digital nomads, I stumbled across the idea of a "virtual assistant" — whether or not this would be up your street, I've no idea, but mentioning it just in case.
There are loads of results to a simple Google search, but the Wikipedia entry is probably the best starting point.
Even notice that in college often the text books are written by the professor's themselves, and they can dictate that every year the newest version is to be used.
Sure — and I think that that makes sense where the newest textbooks will contain more relevant material. (I'm a lawyer, and, depending on the field of study, what might be perfectly good one year may be completely outdated by the next year, although the previous release of the textbook may still have value for academic study of the analysis of the law at the time the book was written.) My professor on my current course emailed his book out in Word format; easily converted to.pdf, so not a problem
Perhaps I'm naive in hoping that increased capability might result in increased experimentation and innovation — hopefully not!
And you can mark and annotate stuff on most other ebook formats just fine.
Interesting — I haven't come across a way of doing it yet, but perhaps that's because I've always focussed on PDFs. Your comment has made me make a note to look into it again; if there's a better way of doing it, so much the better.
I'm not really sold on the idea that we need interactive textbooks, I've never had a textbook that wasn't very sufficiently searchable using the contents and index
I agree, if you only want the one book / document. If you only need to find your way around one book, then I am unconvinced of the value here, since, unless it is a substantial tome, carrying it with you is not a huge chore.
However, I tend to refer to any number of books when writing, and having them all to hand when I want them — in digital form — is very useful indeed. Similarly, being able to have my whole library of research available to me, just a search away, rather than needing to lug around many files and folders is a massive advantage; I can travel and get on with my work without carrying thousands of sheets of paper.
I hurt my back quite badly at law school, carrying reams of paper and books around; I wish I had been able to study then as I do today.
With an eBook with DRM, they'll make it so while the book might not cost $45, every student will be forced to buy it 'new' every year.
Or else you could pay once, and always have the latest version on release, since the incremental costs are much lower in redistributing an updated electronic copy than shipping updated editions of physical books.
I'd certainly be willing to pay more up front if I could have each updated version as it became available, perhaps a small "upgrade" fee for major revisions, just as with the software world. By increasing the ease of digital publishing, I would have thought we would see an increase in innovative models and approaches — the control of the current publishing industry is diminished.
Perhaps it is just me, but I'd far prefer that my digital documents were in PDF than in ePub. I'm coming to the end of a two year masters degree, where all materials were electronic; lectures were podcasts, and all the reading is delivered by download.
Whatever format the literature came in, though — and no matter where else I sourced my reading — my first step was (and is) to convert the document to PDF, since I find these easiest to manipulate across platform. With a PDF, I can annotate and mark up on my iPad, sync back to the server, and then access from my computer, complete with annotations. I can share my documents — with annotations — with fellow students, with a fair chance that they will be able to open them without needing extra software; I'm not so sure about this with ePub.
I would much prefer an eInk screen for readability, since the backlit screen of my iPad causes my eyes to feel strained after prolonged reading. However, I also like to mark up and annotate my documents (be they articles, texts or otherwise), and, of all the devices I have tried so far, the iPad offers the best experience for this. I've studied all of my masters degree so far without printing a single page, using my iPad for all the reading, and it seems to have worked out okay — but an eInk screen capable of supporting annotations conveniently would be fantastic. For the moment, though, for me, the iPad is right, simply because it is the least wrong.
I know that if I'm ever suing someone for piracy, I'll be sure to list their ISP as a co-defendant.
In the US, the ISP would rely on the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act, implemented by the DMCA as s512 of Title 17 USC - in particular, s512(a):
(a) Transitory Digital Network Communications. - A service provider shall not be liable for monetary relief, or, except as provided in subsection (j), for injunctive or other equitable relief, for infringement of copyright by reason of the provider's transmitting, routing, or providing connections for, material through a system or network controlled or operated by or for the service provider, or by reason of the intermediate and transient storage of that material in the course of such transmitting, routing, or providing connections, if -
(1) the transmission of the material was initiated by or at the direction of a person other than the service provider;
(2) the transmission, routing, provision of connections, or storage is carried out through an automatic technical process without selection of the material by the service provider;
(3) the service provider does not select the recipients of the material except as an automatic response to the request of another person;
(4) no copy of the material made by the service provider in the course of such intermediate or transient storage is maintained on the system or network in a manner ordinarily accessible to anyone other than anticipated recipients, and no such copy is maintained on the system or network in a manner ordinarily accessible to such anticipated recipients for a longer period than is reasonably necessary for the transmission, routing, or provision of connections; and
(5) the material is transmitted through the system or network without modification of its content.
"Service provider" is defined (s512(k)(1)(A) as:
As used in subsection (a), the term ''service provider'' means an entity offering the transmission, routing, or providing of connections for digital online communications, between or among points specified by a user, of material of the user's choosing, without modification to the content of the material as sent or received.
Whether this meets the US definition of "common carrier," I'm afraid I do not know - but a DSL access provider and the like would be aiming to rely on this to exempt them from liability for whatever the user might do.
1. Where an information society service is provided that consists of the transmission in a communication network of information provided by a recipient of the service, or the provision of access to a communication network, Member States shall ensure that the service provider is not liable for the information transmitted, on condition that the provider:
(a) does not initiate the transmission;
(b) does not select the receiver of the transmission; and
(c) does not select or modify the information contained in the transmission.
2. The acts of transmission and of provision of access referred to in paragraph 1 include the automatic, intermediate and transient storage of the information transmitted in so far as this takes place for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission in the communication network, and provided that the information is not stored for any period longer than is reasonably necessary for the transmission.
3. This Article shall not affect the possibility for a court or administrative authority, in accordance with Member States' legal systems, of requiring the service provider to terminate or prevent an infringement.
That's not to say that no remedy is possible, though - injunctions are flavour of the month at t
You're in a masters program, and you travel to 4 countries. You're from a privileged class
I'm definitely aware of this - I am very thankful for where I was born (England), and to whom.
this post was about k-8 schools,
Although I'm not actually sure what a k-8 school is, I did know that I was responding based on a very different situation - for me, I study because I want to do so (I enjoy it), and am fortunate to have the spare time to be able to commit to it, as well as to be able to pay the costs of the program. As another poster highlighted above, my circumstances are very different to those in the original post; I'm in no position to help on that point, but I can feed it to a wider discussing on distance learning.
I invite people to join me in editing something I'm throwing together today
I try to minimise my logged-in use of Google, but I've downloaded the file, and will take a look. Are you the first named author on the paper currently?
You're an adult, doing the course because you want to. TFA is about kids, most of whom would be rather doing something else.
Absolutely - I was thinking of the general question (whether eLearning is a viable option) rather than the specific situation in the article, but I fully agree that *wanting* to learn / study makes one heck of a difference, irrespective of technology.
One of the greatest meta-learnings from my course was that my life, and my work habits, were full of distractions which kept stealing my attention and focus. I don't claim to have the ideal solution (and spending time on being less distracted is, in itself, a distraction, so there's a clear cost-benefit exercise to be done), but I've found the following things very valuable. I am enjoying the journey of discovery but, at the same time, I wish I'd thought to implement some of these before I had started my formal eLearning - although they are useful to me for far more than just the formal studying.
1.) Use my head for processing, not storage. Even without a computer around, I found I was distracted, simply with too much going on in my head. I've tried very methods of solving this but, so far, the one which has worked the best is David Allen's "Getting Things Done" approach. My implementation is very simple and, so far, has proved very effective; crazy though it sounds, it just feels - physically feels - that my head is less crowded. This alone has had a massive impact on my focus and productivity.
2.) I am not connected to the Internet unless I need it for the task at hand. I find that, if I have the Internet available, I can be distracted quite easily - just by disconnecting, I can concentrate on the task at hand, without email pinging in, temptation to browse the web etc. - for me, it's about minimising the temptation. (William Power's "Hamlet's BlackBerry" made me think more about this, as did Nicholas Carr's "The Shallows.")
3.) Taking regular breaks. I can do a task for about an hour before my productivity starts to dwindle. A five minute break gets me back up and running, although there is a slight lead time to getting back to full productivity again. But, overall, there is a definite gain by having that break.
4.) Minimise computer distractions.
As a first step, this involves switching off any form of notification which does not relate to the task at hand, with the exception of a warning about battery life. If I want to see if I have email, I can check, for example; I don't need it pushed to me, or automatically notified to me.
If I cannot switch off Internet access (perhaps where I am researching online) I will switch off / do not open my email application, turn off Skype and the like. I switched off incoming email sounds and on-screen notifications quite a while back, but I realised, after I had stopped to think, that email was still distracting me. If I had the email application open on one screen, when an email came in, I was drawn to it. If it was not visible, I had to switch to it every few minutes, to check.
Now, I work with my email client either closed, or else offline. When I want to deal with email - either where there is a logical end of a task / some free space in my head - I log in and check; if there's something there, I apply the "Getting Things Done" principles. I don't feel guilty that I am not constantly monitoring it, and am less stress and more productive as a result.
I've tried to avoid particular software solutions, but I have found DoublePane on the Mac very useful: if I am typing corrections / annotations on a PDF document into the word processing copy, I will have the two applications on screen, side by side. Having to alt/cmd-tab between applications increases the chances of me getting distracted, and this is an easy way of minimising that risk.
5.) One task at a time. Perhaps just part of the "Getting Things Done" approach, but I get much more done if I focus on one thing at a time. If I'm reading a document, I'm reading a document - I am not checking my email, or browsing the news, or drinking a cup of tea. At the end of it, I can go and get that drink, and, if it's really stopping me from concentrating on the reading, then I'll go and sort it (no point trying to read and understand if not concentrating), but if I can wait, I do.
6.) Waves / rain soundtrack: stupid though it may sound, I find it easier to concentrate when having waves / rain soundtrack playing (through headphones preferably, but speakers at a pinch) then having music or no sound at all - it helps my focus hugely.
(I'm not claiming that the iPad is the only, or even best, tablet for eLearning. But it is the one that I have, having moved to an iPad from a Sony eReader (and a COOL-ER eReader before that), and I've had a good experience of using it for eLearning, hence my comments here.)
iAnnotate PDF: an outstanding application for reading and marking up PDFs. I make a point of converting all my materials to PDF (primarily so that everything opens in one application on my Mac, rather than whatever is assigned to the format of the original piece, and also to make it easy to mark up / annotate on the iPad. I use this for pretty much all my reading, other than published books (below) - for me, it has been most definitely worth the cost. I had a problem with synchronisation, and the support team could not have been more helpful - they invested a considerable time in trying to help me solve the problem, and did not curse me when it finally dawned on me that I had messed up the permissions on the directory on the Linux filestore which holds all my materials... I offered to buy them a pizza or two for their time, to say thanks, but they declined - if you happen to read this, the offer most definitely still stands, guys (and gals). The latest version seems pretty good - minimising distractions when studying is particularly important (and is one of the reasons why I study with Wi-Fi switched off), and the cleaner reading mode and the ability to mark up with fewer taps is very welcome.
PenUltimate: a very simple (to the user - it may be very complex under the surface) notebook-style application - coupled with a Bamboo (Wacom) stylus, it's great for scribbling down thoughts and plans. (I use this in my "day job" for taking notes in meetings - less intrusive than a laptop screen between me and the person with whom I'm talking, and no annoying key taps.) The addition of handwriting recognition (even at additional cost) would be great - I've tried various other notebook applications (including NoteTaker HD), and found PenUltimate better for my needs.
iBooks: I love reading, and thus read a huge amount; frankly, for reading books (where I do not tend to make annotations), a device with an eInk screen is still better, but, since I've moved the iPad for the annotation support and do not want to carry yet another device, I've used iBooks a lot. Clean, simple and I can add my own copies of books, and not just those bought through the iTunes book store (which I've never used, actually) - very pleased with it indeed. I must have read thousands of pages on it, and, whilst it tires my eyes (the iPad screen, not iBooks, really) far more quickly than reading on an eReader device, I'm still happy with it. Calibre (on the PC/Mac/Linux machine, not the iPad) for "liberating" eBooks to be read in iBooks is rather handy, although I don't use it for eBook management.
Bamboo (Wacom) stylus: I used an AluPen stylus for a while, but found it became less and less easy to make a positive mark on the screen; whether the tip was wearing down, I'm not sure. I initially baulked at the idea of spending £25 on a stylus but, once I'd tested the Bamboo stylus, I decided (on the spot, as it happens) that it was worth the money. I find it very fluid, and easy to use to write on the screen,without needing to worry about making a stroke - I can focus on the thinking, and not the physical act of writing.
What I have used less:
Pages: hardly worth the money, in my opinion. I use it on the Mac, and am a fan, but not so much on the iPad, since I don't find typing on the on-screen keyboard very easy. I've used Pages on the iPad a couple of times for making minor changes, but never for the creation of substantial pieces of work - a physical keyboard works better for me, and, since I tend to have a computer with me if I think I might want to do some writing, I'll reach for that every time.
MindNode: bought because it syncs with the desktop version, which I've used on and off for brainstorming. However, on the iPad, I just find it less useful - I've reviewed the occasional brainstorm on it, but a PDF version works just as well for me.
Technology breaks concentration because it offers a variety of distractions in one small, portable package. There is not much else you can do with paper, pencil, and a Maths textbook than study.
Currently in the second year of a distance-learning, Internet-centric, course, I agree entirely about the minimisation of distractions - this is absolutely critical (for me, at least). I don't agree that there's nothing one can do with a paper and pen but study, though - doodling, writing something else, making airplanes / blow darts and so on are all very easily done...
I can only speak for myself, but I am enrolled on a distance-learning taught masters degree, which is taught solely over the Internet, and, on the whole, it has been a great experience.
Without physical classes, I've been able to study whenever I have wanted - the term has a structure, with deadlines to be met, but, around those, I can work during times which suit me. Lectures are delivered in the form of podcasts, in 30 minute slots. These I tend to listen to when I am driving or ironing - sufficient to get the gist of the topic. I avoid taking notes, since I just want to soak up what is being said.
The text book is delivered as a Word document, but quickly and easily converted to.pdf; other reading comes in whatever form in which it was originally provided (could be a link to a web page, or a.pdf download and so on) - again, all easily converted to pdf. These I read on my iPad (in iAnnotate) and mark them up accordingly; all synchronised back to my computers, to become searchable when it comes to thinking, and writing essays.
Essays are written - unsurprisingly - on a computer, and are submitted electronically; I tend to use.pdf, but I am not sure what others use. These are all run through TurnItIn software - I'm undecided whether I think that this is a good practice or not, but, since I have no say in the matter (short of quitting the course), I can live with it.
On the whole, a very positive experience indeed - I've studied on trains, planes as well as sitting at home, and have written essays in four different countries. The flexibility is great.
There are some downsides, though - particularly around student camaraderie and discussion. Despite there being some great tools available, I don't feel that we've quite cracked the discussion / debate side of things yet. I've chatted with some of the students around the world via Skype, which has been very interesting, but, having encouraged mailing lists, real-time text chat, and now blog posts / responses and (*shudder*) a Facebook wall, nothing seems to have attracted critical mass which, for me, is a real shame - I value the ability to discuss and debate very highly, and I don't feel we've got this quite right yet.
(It may, of course, be that few of the students actually want to discuss, and the distance-learning nature means that people can studying without feeling a pressure to discuss - if this is the case, the course is probably suiting them very well, and I could indeed see the value of this form of study for those who do not want to be in a classroom environment, or required to make conversation. Personally, I think that discussing and critiquing of ideas amongst peers is very valuable, but I appreciate that others may think differently.)
On the whole, though, it works very well for me - I find it easy to be motivated to study something I enjoy, in an environment which suits me.
If you are short of some good Christmas reading, you could do a lot worse than James Boyle's excellent book, "The Public Domain." It looks at a number of similar issues, critiquing the rise in the enclosure of the public domain, with the call to arms that, without defenders actively arguing in favour of the public domain, it will be gradually eroded by the proprietary claims of third parties, since it has no voice, nor lobbying power, of its own.
He has made it available in PDF under (CC) BY-NC-SA 3.0, so you can "try before you buy" or else not buy it if you do not want to but, in my opinion, it's worth every penny. (Although I feel rather stupid having a hard copy sitting untouched on my shelf, just so James and his publishers receive money, when the electronic copy was worth far more to me!)
David Bollier's "Public Assets, Private Profits" (sorry - Google link) is definitely worth reading, too, for those who care about the preservation of the commons.
1.) BT must block access to the "Newzbin 2" website, including amending the blocking rules in effect to ensure blocking, when the studios notify it of a change of IP address and similar by Newzbin 2. (No further court order required for these changes)
2.) The order extends to any downstream services which BT operates which incorporate CleanFeed. It does not apply to BT's access services and upstream divisions.
3.) BT must pay the costs of the solution.
4.) BT must pay the costs for defending itself in the case, since it was insufficiently neutral by virtue of opposing the order.
Summary (with some of my opinions...):
Background: In July, BT was injuncted to block access to the Newzbin 2 website, which had previously been held to infringe copyright. The decision today related solely to the order itself, and procedural / cost aspects.
The order requires BT to block access to the Newzbin 2 website (including at any future addresses it uses, as notified by the studios to BT (para. 10)). It applies to any downstream services which BT provides which implement - whether as an option or not - BT's CleanFeed system, which allows certain traffic management and filtering capabilities. It does not apply to BT's access services and upstream divisions.
The court heard arguments as to the differences (or similarities) between a Norwich Pharmacal order and an Art. 8(3) injunction (which is the mechanism here). Whilst Arnold J ruled in favour of the studios, that there are differences, he ruled that the "intermediary has not committed any legal wrong." (para. 30)
BT was also found to be liable for the costs of implementing the solution. At para. 32, Arnold J held that: "BT is a commercial enterprise which makes a profit from the provision of the services which the operators and users of Newzbin2 use to infringe the Studios' copyright. As such, the costs of implementing the order can be regarded as a cost of carrying on that business."
In effect, the cost of bearing the outcome of the injunction is the cost of the shield provisions of Arts. 12-14, 2000/31/EC. BT was also effectively penalised for defending itself, per para. 54, with the court holding that defending itself against an order such as this - the first of its kind in the UK - was insufficiently neutral. I struggle with this, as it would seem to hold that access providers are unable to defend themselves against threats such as this for fear of not being "neutral" on an issue which, unsurprisingly, is contentious for an ISP.
The full wording of the order appears at the end the judgment (para. 56), in the following terms:
"1. In respect of its customers to whose internet service the system known as Cleanfeed is applied whether optionally or otherwise, the Respondent shall within 14 days adopt the following technical means to block or attempt to block access by its customers to the website known as Newzbin2 currently accessible at www.newzbin.com, its domains and sub-domains and including payments.newzbin.com and any other IP address or URL whose sole or predominant purpose is to enable or facilitate access to the Newzbin2 website. The technical means to be adopted are:
(i) IP address re-routing in respect of each and every IP address from which the said website operates and which is notified in writing to the Respondent by the Applicants or their agents; and
(ii) DPI-based URL blocking utilising at least summary analysis in respect of each and every URL available at the said website and its domains and sub-domains and which is notified in writing to the Respondent by the Applicants or their agents.
2. For the avoidance of doubt paragraph 1 is complied with if the Respondent uses the system known as Cleanfeed and does not require the Respondent to adopt DPI-based URL blocking utilising detailed analysis.
3. The Respondent shall not be in breach of paragraph 1
I've ended up replacing most of my previous kit with acquired-from-eBay Apple kit. 802.11n over 5Ghz for some devices, and over 2.4Ghz for others, with fallback to 802.11g for older devices. Airport Extreme for the main routing, with some Airport Express units for the music system. I used one as a wireless bridge for the PS3 for a while, but, since switching to an old Apple TV for playback, everything's streamed fine over Wi-Fi.
Was there particular functionality you wanted, which led you to DD-WRT? Or might other routers be able to do what it is that you need?
The property concept... The intellectual property concept... the concepts are not the same just because both are legal constructs
The rationale for property is, as you say, different to the rationale for the extension of property rights to different intellectual things - such as copyright - but there is no meaningful difference in the law of personalty between the ownership of a book, and the ownership of copyright, since both are property rights at law. They are the one and same thing. (The non-meaningful difference would be tangible v. intangible personalty.)
(If I had mod points, I'd mod your post up, FAOD - it's insightful, in my book.)
It strikes me that "property" in the legal sense is as much a fiction as "intellectual property" - over time, and in different cultures, we have established complex legal concepts of "ownership", whereby the legal right of "ownership" amounts to a web of in personam rights, particularly the right to exclude.
I may hold a copy of a book in my hand, but, absent a legal construct of property, I have no clear right that means that you cannot take it away from me. Equally, there is no obligation on me to give it to you. If you want it, you will have to take it from me - absent you taking it, I have possession. If you take it, I can try to take it back from you, just as if we were dogs fighting over a bit of meat.
In different ways in different societies, we have evolved the notion of "ownership"; we impose a legal construct of "property" and of "ownership" on top of this physical existence, meaning that you require my permission to take the "property" in question away from me, or else face the legal consequences.
Perhaps intellectual property takes the notion too far, but, fundamentally, I am not sure I see a difference between the "imaginary" (legal construct only) right of ownership of something which does exist, and of something which does not - both are artificial legal constructs.
I took my own smartphone - an XDA IIs - and was just very careful with my usage; I was predominantly reliant on Wi-Fi, which, I was pleasantly surprised to find, was easily available where I was visiting.
My only quandry was whether I was required to declare the phone coming into the custom, on the form which asks about radios and cryptography. I decided not to declare it, on the grounds that, if they had wanted to include cell phones, they would have said so, since the average traveller is not going to decide that the phone fell within the description. A risk, of course, but one I felt comfortable taking.
Slashdot Mirror
In my ongoing research into digital nomads, I stumbled across the idea of a "virtual assistant" — whether or not this would be up your street, I've no idea, but mentioning it just in case.
There are loads of results to a simple Google search, but the Wikipedia entry is probably the best starting point.
I have 30 year old text books that I can still refer to
Yep, definitely a good point — and a clear call for open formats, to reduce the risk.
Even notice that in college often the text books are written by the professor's themselves, and they can dictate that every year the newest version is to be used.
Sure — and I think that that makes sense where the newest textbooks will contain more relevant material. (I'm a lawyer, and, depending on the field of study, what might be perfectly good one year may be completely outdated by the next year, although the previous release of the textbook may still have value for academic study of the analysis of the law at the time the book was written.) My professor on my current course emailed his book out in Word format; easily converted to .pdf, so not a problem
Perhaps I'm naive in hoping that increased capability might result in increased experimentation and innovation — hopefully not!
And you can mark and annotate stuff on most other ebook formats just fine.
Interesting — I haven't come across a way of doing it yet, but perhaps that's because I've always focussed on PDFs. Your comment has made me make a note to look into it again; if there's a better way of doing it, so much the better.
Thanks for taking the time to reply.
I'm not really sold on the idea that we need interactive textbooks, I've never had a textbook that wasn't very sufficiently searchable using the contents and index
I agree, if you only want the one book / document. If you only need to find your way around one book, then I am unconvinced of the value here, since, unless it is a substantial tome, carrying it with you is not a huge chore.
However, I tend to refer to any number of books when writing, and having them all to hand when I want them — in digital form — is very useful indeed. Similarly, being able to have my whole library of research available to me, just a search away, rather than needing to lug around many files and folders is a massive advantage; I can travel and get on with my work without carrying thousands of sheets of paper.
I hurt my back quite badly at law school, carrying reams of paper and books around; I wish I had been able to study then as I do today.
With an eBook with DRM, they'll make it so while the book might not cost $45, every student will be forced to buy it 'new' every year.
Or else you could pay once, and always have the latest version on release, since the incremental costs are much lower in redistributing an updated electronic copy than shipping updated editions of physical books.
I'd certainly be willing to pay more up front if I could have each updated version as it became available, perhaps a small "upgrade" fee for major revisions, just as with the software world. By increasing the ease of digital publishing, I would have thought we would see an increase in innovative models and approaches — the control of the current publishing industry is diminished.
Perhaps it is just me, but I'd far prefer that my digital documents were in PDF than in ePub. I'm coming to the end of a two year masters degree, where all materials were electronic; lectures were podcasts, and all the reading is delivered by download.
Whatever format the literature came in, though — and no matter where else I sourced my reading — my first step was (and is) to convert the document to PDF, since I find these easiest to manipulate across platform. With a PDF, I can annotate and mark up on my iPad, sync back to the server, and then access from my computer, complete with annotations. I can share my documents — with annotations — with fellow students, with a fair chance that they will be able to open them without needing extra software; I'm not so sure about this with ePub.
The iPad is the wrong platform for this
I'd have thought that it would depend.
I would much prefer an eInk screen for readability, since the backlit screen of my iPad causes my eyes to feel strained after prolonged reading. However, I also like to mark up and annotate my documents (be they articles, texts or otherwise), and, of all the devices I have tried so far, the iPad offers the best experience for this. I've studied all of my masters degree so far without printing a single page, using my iPad for all the reading, and it seems to have worked out okay — but an eInk screen capable of supporting annotations conveniently would be fantastic. For the moment, though, for me, the iPad is right, simply because it is the least wrong.
I know that if I'm ever suing someone for piracy, I'll be sure to list their ISP as a co-defendant.
In the US, the ISP would rely on the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act, implemented by the DMCA as s512 of Title 17 USC - in particular, s512(a):
(a) Transitory Digital Network Communications. - A service provider shall not be liable for monetary relief, or, except as provided in subsection (j), for injunctive or other equitable relief, for infringement of copyright by reason of the provider's transmitting, routing, or providing connections for, material through a system or network controlled or operated by or for the service provider, or by reason of the intermediate and transient storage of that material in the course of such transmitting, routing, or providing connections, if -
(1) the transmission of the material was initiated by or at the direction of a person other than the service provider;
(2) the transmission, routing, provision of connections, or storage is carried out through an automatic technical process without selection of the material by the service provider;
(3) the service provider does not select the recipients of the material except as an automatic response to the request of another person;
(4) no copy of the material made by the service provider in the course of such intermediate or transient storage is maintained on the system or network in a manner ordinarily accessible to anyone other than anticipated recipients, and no such copy is maintained on the system or network in a manner ordinarily accessible to such anticipated recipients for a longer period than is reasonably necessary for the transmission, routing, or provision of connections; and
(5) the material is transmitted through the system or network without modification of its content.
"Service provider" is defined (s512(k)(1)(A) as:
As used in subsection (a), the term ''service provider'' means an entity offering the transmission, routing, or providing of connections for digital online communications, between or among points specified by a user, of material of the user's choosing, without modification to the content of the material as sent or received.
Whether this meets the US definition of "common carrier," I'm afraid I do not know - but a DSL access provider and the like would be aiming to rely on this to exempt them from liability for whatever the user might do.
In Europe, there is similar legislation - directive 2000/31/EC, Article 12:
1. Where an information society service is provided that consists of the transmission in a communication network of information provided by a recipient of the service, or the provision of access to a communication network, Member States shall ensure that the service provider is not liable for the information transmitted, on condition that the provider:
(a) does not initiate the transmission;
(b) does not select the receiver of the transmission; and
(c) does not select or modify the information contained in the transmission.
2. The acts of transmission and of provision of access referred to in paragraph 1 include the automatic, intermediate and transient storage of the information transmitted in so far as this takes place for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission in the communication network, and provided that the information is not stored for any period longer than is reasonably necessary for the transmission.
3. This Article shall not affect the possibility for a court or administrative authority, in accordance with Member States' legal systems, of requiring the service provider to terminate or prevent an infringement.
That's not to say that no remedy is possible, though - injunctions are flavour of the month at t
the more that needs to be sold to pay the debt.
You're in a masters program, and you travel to 4 countries. You're from a privileged class
I'm definitely aware of this - I am very thankful for where I was born (England), and to whom.
this post was about k-8 schools,
Although I'm not actually sure what a k-8 school is, I did know that I was responding based on a very different situation - for me, I study because I want to do so (I enjoy it), and am fortunate to have the spare time to be able to commit to it, as well as to be able to pay the costs of the program. As another poster highlighted above, my circumstances are very different to those in the original post; I'm in no position to help on that point, but I can feed it to a wider discussing on distance learning.
I invite people to join me in editing something I'm throwing together today
I try to minimise my logged-in use of Google, but I've downloaded the file, and will take a look. Are you the first named author on the paper currently?
You're an adult, doing the course because you want to. TFA is about kids, most of whom would be rather doing something else.
Absolutely - I was thinking of the general question (whether eLearning is a viable option) rather than the specific situation in the article, but I fully agree that *wanting* to learn / study makes one heck of a difference, irrespective of technology.
One of the greatest meta-learnings from my course was that my life, and my work habits, were full of distractions which kept stealing my attention and focus. I don't claim to have the ideal solution (and spending time on being less distracted is, in itself, a distraction, so there's a clear cost-benefit exercise to be done), but I've found the following things very valuable. I am enjoying the journey of discovery but, at the same time, I wish I'd thought to implement some of these before I had started my formal eLearning - although they are useful to me for far more than just the formal studying.
1.) Use my head for processing, not storage. Even without a computer around, I found I was distracted, simply with too much going on in my head. I've tried very methods of solving this but, so far, the one which has worked the best is David Allen's "Getting Things Done" approach. My implementation is very simple and, so far, has proved very effective; crazy though it sounds, it just feels - physically feels - that my head is less crowded. This alone has had a massive impact on my focus and productivity.
2.) I am not connected to the Internet unless I need it for the task at hand. I find that, if I have the Internet available, I can be distracted quite easily - just by disconnecting, I can concentrate on the task at hand, without email pinging in, temptation to browse the web etc. - for me, it's about minimising the temptation. (William Power's "Hamlet's BlackBerry" made me think more about this, as did Nicholas Carr's "The Shallows.")
3.) Taking regular breaks. I can do a task for about an hour before my productivity starts to dwindle. A five minute break gets me back up and running, although there is a slight lead time to getting back to full productivity again. But, overall, there is a definite gain by having that break.
4.) Minimise computer distractions.
As a first step, this involves switching off any form of notification which does not relate to the task at hand, with the exception of a warning about battery life. If I want to see if I have email, I can check, for example; I don't need it pushed to me, or automatically notified to me.
If I cannot switch off Internet access (perhaps where I am researching online) I will switch off / do not open my email application, turn off Skype and the like. I switched off incoming email sounds and on-screen notifications quite a while back, but I realised, after I had stopped to think, that email was still distracting me. If I had the email application open on one screen, when an email came in, I was drawn to it. If it was not visible, I had to switch to it every few minutes, to check.
Now, I work with my email client either closed, or else offline. When I want to deal with email - either where there is a logical end of a task / some free space in my head - I log in and check; if there's something there, I apply the "Getting Things Done" principles. I don't feel guilty that I am not constantly monitoring it, and am less stress and more productive as a result.
I've tried to avoid particular software solutions, but I have found DoublePane on the Mac very useful: if I am typing corrections / annotations on a PDF document into the word processing copy, I will have the two applications on screen, side by side. Having to alt/cmd-tab between applications increases the chances of me getting distracted, and this is an easy way of minimising that risk.
5.) One task at a time. Perhaps just part of the "Getting Things Done" approach, but I get much more done if I focus on one thing at a time. If I'm reading a document, I'm reading a document - I am not checking my email, or browsing the news, or drinking a cup of tea. At the end of it, I can go and get that drink, and, if it's really stopping me from concentrating on the reading, then I'll go and sort it (no point trying to read and understand if not concentrating), but if I can wait, I do.
6.) Waves / rain soundtrack: stupid though it may sound, I find it easier to concentrate when having waves / rain soundtrack playing (through headphones preferably, but speakers at a pinch) then having music or no sound at all - it helps my focus hugely.
(I'm not claiming that the iPad is the only, or even best, tablet for eLearning. But it is the one that I have, having moved to an iPad from a Sony eReader (and a COOL-ER eReader before that), and I've had a good experience of using it for eLearning, hence my comments here.)
iAnnotate PDF: an outstanding application for reading and marking up PDFs. I make a point of converting all my materials to PDF (primarily so that everything opens in one application on my Mac, rather than whatever is assigned to the format of the original piece, and also to make it easy to mark up / annotate on the iPad. I use this for pretty much all my reading, other than published books (below) - for me, it has been most definitely worth the cost. I had a problem with synchronisation, and the support team could not have been more helpful - they invested a considerable time in trying to help me solve the problem, and did not curse me when it finally dawned on me that I had messed up the permissions on the directory on the Linux filestore which holds all my materials... I offered to buy them a pizza or two for their time, to say thanks, but they declined - if you happen to read this, the offer most definitely still stands, guys (and gals). The latest version seems pretty good - minimising distractions when studying is particularly important (and is one of the reasons why I study with Wi-Fi switched off), and the cleaner reading mode and the ability to mark up with fewer taps is very welcome.
PenUltimate: a very simple (to the user - it may be very complex under the surface) notebook-style application - coupled with a Bamboo (Wacom) stylus, it's great for scribbling down thoughts and plans. (I use this in my "day job" for taking notes in meetings - less intrusive than a laptop screen between me and the person with whom I'm talking, and no annoying key taps.) The addition of handwriting recognition (even at additional cost) would be great - I've tried various other notebook applications (including NoteTaker HD), and found PenUltimate better for my needs.
iBooks: I love reading, and thus read a huge amount; frankly, for reading books (where I do not tend to make annotations), a device with an eInk screen is still better, but, since I've moved the iPad for the annotation support and do not want to carry yet another device, I've used iBooks a lot. Clean, simple and I can add my own copies of books, and not just those bought through the iTunes book store (which I've never used, actually) - very pleased with it indeed. I must have read thousands of pages on it, and, whilst it tires my eyes (the iPad screen, not iBooks, really) far more quickly than reading on an eReader device, I'm still happy with it. Calibre (on the PC/Mac/Linux machine, not the iPad) for "liberating" eBooks to be read in iBooks is rather handy, although I don't use it for eBook management.
Bamboo (Wacom) stylus: I used an AluPen stylus for a while, but found it became less and less easy to make a positive mark on the screen; whether the tip was wearing down, I'm not sure. I initially baulked at the idea of spending £25 on a stylus but, once I'd tested the Bamboo stylus, I decided (on the spot, as it happens) that it was worth the money. I find it very fluid, and easy to use to write on the screen,without needing to worry about making a stroke - I can focus on the thinking, and not the physical act of writing.
What I have used less:
Pages: hardly worth the money, in my opinion. I use it on the Mac, and am a fan, but not so much on the iPad, since I don't find typing on the on-screen keyboard very easy. I've used Pages on the iPad a couple of times for making minor changes, but never for the creation of substantial pieces of work - a physical keyboard works better for me, and, since I tend to have a computer with me if I think I might want to do some writing, I'll reach for that every time.
MindNode: bought because it syncs with the desktop version, which I've used on and off for brainstorming. However, on the iPad, I just find it less useful - I've reviewed the occasional brainstorm on it, but a PDF version works just as well for me.
Technology breaks concentration because it offers a variety of distractions in one small, portable package. There is not much else you can do with paper, pencil, and a Maths textbook than study.
Currently in the second year of a distance-learning, Internet-centric, course, I agree entirely about the minimisation of distractions - this is absolutely critical (for me, at least). I don't agree that there's nothing one can do with a paper and pen but study, though - doodling, writing something else, making airplanes / blow darts and so on are all very easily done...
I can only speak for myself, but I am enrolled on a distance-learning taught masters degree, which is taught solely over the Internet, and, on the whole, it has been a great experience.
Without physical classes, I've been able to study whenever I have wanted - the term has a structure, with deadlines to be met, but, around those, I can work during times which suit me. Lectures are delivered in the form of podcasts, in 30 minute slots. These I tend to listen to when I am driving or ironing - sufficient to get the gist of the topic. I avoid taking notes, since I just want to soak up what is being said.
The text book is delivered as a Word document, but quickly and easily converted to .pdf; other reading comes in whatever form in which it was originally provided (could be a link to a web page, or a .pdf download and so on) - again, all easily converted to pdf. These I read on my iPad (in iAnnotate) and mark them up accordingly; all synchronised back to my computers, to become searchable when it comes to thinking, and writing essays.
Essays are written - unsurprisingly - on a computer, and are submitted electronically; I tend to use .pdf, but I am not sure what others use. These are all run through TurnItIn software - I'm undecided whether I think that this is a good practice or not, but, since I have no say in the matter (short of quitting the course), I can live with it.
On the whole, a very positive experience indeed - I've studied on trains, planes as well as sitting at home, and have written essays in four different countries. The flexibility is great.
There are some downsides, though - particularly around student camaraderie and discussion. Despite there being some great tools available, I don't feel that we've quite cracked the discussion / debate side of things yet. I've chatted with some of the students around the world via Skype, which has been very interesting, but, having encouraged mailing lists, real-time text chat, and now blog posts / responses and (*shudder*) a Facebook wall, nothing seems to have attracted critical mass which, for me, is a real shame - I value the ability to discuss and debate very highly, and I don't feel we've got this quite right yet.
(It may, of course, be that few of the students actually want to discuss, and the distance-learning nature means that people can studying without feeling a pressure to discuss - if this is the case, the course is probably suiting them very well, and I could indeed see the value of this form of study for those who do not want to be in a classroom environment, or required to make conversation. Personally, I think that discussing and critiquing of ideas amongst peers is very valuable, but I appreciate that others may think differently.)
On the whole, though, it works very well for me - I find it easy to be motivated to study something I enjoy, in an environment which suits me.
Oops- fixed the Google link into something more palatable, but didn't fix the accompanying text.
If you are short of some good Christmas reading, you could do a lot worse than James Boyle's excellent book, "The Public Domain." It looks at a number of similar issues, critiquing the rise in the enclosure of the public domain, with the call to arms that, without defenders actively arguing in favour of the public domain, it will be gradually eroded by the proprietary claims of third parties, since it has no voice, nor lobbying power, of its own.
He has made it available in PDF under (CC) BY-NC-SA 3.0, so you can "try before you buy" or else not buy it if you do not want to but, in my opinion, it's worth every penny. (Although I feel rather stupid having a hard copy sitting untouched on my shelf, just so James and his publishers receive money, when the electronic copy was worth far more to me!)
David Bollier's "Public Assets, Private Profits" (sorry - Google link) is definitely worth reading, too, for those who care about the preservation of the commons.
Four bullet point overview:
Summary (with some of my opinions...):
Background: In July, BT was injuncted to block access to the Newzbin 2 website, which had previously been held to infringe copyright. The decision today related solely to the order itself, and procedural / cost aspects.
The order requires BT to block access to the Newzbin 2 website (including at any future addresses it uses, as notified by the studios to BT (para. 10)). It applies to any downstream services which BT provides which implement - whether as an option or not - BT's CleanFeed system, which allows certain traffic management and filtering capabilities. It does not apply to BT's access services and upstream divisions.
The court heard arguments as to the differences (or similarities) between a Norwich Pharmacal order and an Art. 8(3) injunction (which is the mechanism here). Whilst Arnold J ruled in favour of the studios, that there are differences, he ruled that the "intermediary has not committed any legal wrong." (para. 30)
BT was also found to be liable for the costs of implementing the solution. At para. 32, Arnold J held that: "BT is a commercial enterprise which makes a profit from the provision of the services which the operators and users of Newzbin2 use to infringe the Studios' copyright. As such, the costs of implementing the order can be regarded as a cost of carrying on that business."
In effect, the cost of bearing the outcome of the injunction is the cost of the shield provisions of Arts. 12-14, 2000/31/EC. BT was also effectively penalised for defending itself, per para. 54, with the court holding that defending itself against an order such as this - the first of its kind in the UK - was insufficiently neutral. I struggle with this, as it would seem to hold that access providers are unable to defend themselves against threats such as this for fear of not being "neutral" on an issue which, unsurprisingly, is contentious for an ISP.
The full wording of the order appears at the end the judgment (para. 56), in the following terms:
So what 802.11n routers
I've ended up replacing most of my previous kit with acquired-from-eBay Apple kit. 802.11n over 5Ghz for some devices, and over 2.4Ghz for others, with fallback to 802.11g for older devices. Airport Extreme for the main routing, with some Airport Express units for the music system. I used one as a wireless bridge for the PS3 for a while, but, since switching to an old Apple TV for playback, everything's streamed fine over Wi-Fi.
Was there particular functionality you wanted, which led you to DD-WRT? Or might other routers be able to do what it is that you need?
do you have with DD-WRT?
None :)
The property concept ... The intellectual property concept ... the concepts are not the same just because both are legal constructs
The rationale for property is, as you say, different to the rationale for the extension of property rights to different intellectual things - such as copyright - but there is no meaningful difference in the law of personalty between the ownership of a book, and the ownership of copyright, since both are property rights at law. They are the one and same thing. (The non-meaningful difference would be tangible v. intangible personalty.)
(If I had mod points, I'd mod your post up, FAOD - it's insightful, in my book.)
It strikes me that "property" in the legal sense is as much a fiction as "intellectual property" - over time, and in different cultures, we have established complex legal concepts of "ownership", whereby the legal right of "ownership" amounts to a web of in personam rights, particularly the right to exclude.
I may hold a copy of a book in my hand, but, absent a legal construct of property, I have no clear right that means that you cannot take it away from me. Equally, there is no obligation on me to give it to you. If you want it, you will have to take it from me - absent you taking it, I have possession. If you take it, I can try to take it back from you, just as if we were dogs fighting over a bit of meat.
In different ways in different societies, we have evolved the notion of "ownership"; we impose a legal construct of "property" and of "ownership" on top of this physical existence, meaning that you require my permission to take the "property" in question away from me, or else face the legal consequences.
Perhaps intellectual property takes the notion too far, but, fundamentally, I am not sure I see a difference between the "imaginary" (legal construct only) right of ownership of something which does exist, and of something which does not - both are artificial legal constructs.
Listed on SlashGear:
I took my own smartphone - an XDA IIs - and was just very careful with my usage; I was predominantly reliant on Wi-Fi, which, I was pleasantly surprised to find, was easily available where I was visiting.
My only quandry was whether I was required to declare the phone coming into the custom, on the form which asks about radios and cryptography. I decided not to declare it, on the grounds that, if they had wanted to include cell phones, they would have said so, since the average traveller is not going to decide that the phone fell within the description. A risk, of course, but one I felt comfortable taking.